Hall of Fame
by Pokekid543
Summary: Gold made a deal with Giovanni, a deal that ruined his life. With his confidence and self-worth deflating by the second, he had a single reason to keep going, but that cause was stripped away from him before his very eyes. Now, a shell of his old self, the boy grieves. ((One Shot, re-uploaded))


I watched in horror as his stance faulted, a pool of blood already forming from the gash across his chest. No. No no no no- oh thank Entei, he's standing up. Cupping my hands around my mouth, I shouted, "Stay up, Exbo! Stay up! Use Blast Burn!" I wasn't sure if he heard me over the shouts of the surrounding grunts, because he didn't seem to move at all. The Typhlosion panted and took a moment to close his eyes, unable to do any more than just stand there and wait for our opponent to finish him off.

Damn him. Giovanni, that bastard. Damn him and his stupid smile. Why did I agree to this?

"Gold,"

That damn voice. It silenced the calls of his subordinates immediately, holding a air of confidence and authority. The unbearable heat from the Volcano Pokemon's attacks were making me heave, since I didn't have a gas mask like the grunts nor Giovanni. Due to Exbo constantly sending Smoke Screen attacks at my face when he was a Cyndaquil, I was kind of used to it, but there's only so much carbon dioxide a guy can take. My own breathing was quick and ragged at this point, and I was sweating buckets. Wiping a new layer of sweat and ashes off my brow, I replied in a ragged voice through my gritted teeth, "What?"

"Would you like to stop?"

"What?" I muttered, frowning. Stop. Stop? I can't stop. If I stop... If I stop everything I stand for- everything I've worked for- will be shot down and thrown into the dirt, stomped into pieces. Why would I do that? "No."

"Very well." Next thing I know, his Nidoking is running for me with its left fist drawn back, the electricity violently fizzing around it glowing a blinding yellow. Knowing that this was the end, I closed my eyes tight and braced for impact. At least I wouldn't have to follow up on that stupid deal, but I had so many regrets. I wasn't a good trainer to my Pokemon- my friends... I let them down. I let my parents down, I let my Lyra down, I let Silver down, I've wasted Professor Elm and Professor Oak's time. I did this to them and this is my punishment. Fitting for someone who couldn't keep the simplest of promises.

.

.

.

Am I... am I still breathing...? Why aren't dead? What's going on...?

Slowly opening my eyes, I held eye contact with Nidoking, whose blood red eyes matched it's face, now coated in a sticky red ooze. The smell of death hung heavily over the room, making me refuse to look at the body that I'd heard fall when the Pokemon removed its paw from it. The ooze was all over it, and in its clutches... a heart. A beating heart slowly coming to a stop.

The smoke that once filled my nostrils had thinned, forcing me to see the horror which surrounded my trembling body.

No. No no no. Stand up. Stand up Exbo. Stand up! Stand up! Stand up!

"He's dead." Giovanni stated plainly, his voice always cold, always emotionless.

"Shut up!" I snapped. I whimpered. I sobbed. Throwing my backpack onto the floor and searching through it vigorously, I continued with tears in my reddening eyes, "He's not dead! He just fainted and he'll get better! He'll get better!" I found a Max Revive and snapped it open, sprinkling the golden powder over his deep wound. That only made the mangled intestines that more sickening; the blend of death and flowers.

Nonetheless, I crumbled to my knees and whimpered. He can't be dead. Exbo promised... we promised we'd always be there for each other. We promised we'd become champions of this region. This region that has stabbed us in the back so many times and constantly talked us down and tried to crush our dreams, but we never gave up. We couldn't give up.

Clutching my hair and lowering my head until my nose almost touched the cement floor, still warm from the fresh coating of blood, I screamed. I screamed for as long as I could, letting out my frustrations, my broken heart- my broken spirit- my defeated dreams...until I simply collapsed on my side, sobbing into Exbo's matted fur. I couldn't feel anything.

There was no warmth. The warmth that had been there since we left New Bark was gone, leaving me cold and empty inside.

I felt the grunts circling my trembling form, gripping my clothes and chuckling under their breaths. Laughing at my failure. That was all I was, a fool chasing after an unreachable dream. I'd built this stupid fantasy and reality came and crashed down on it. They were trying to take me away from Exbo. I can't leave him. I'd have nothing left to live for. I don't want to leave him.

The blood on my hands made me lose my grip on the yellow fur, and I screamed. My voice cracking and my throat blistering, I screamed and fought against the grunts to return to his corpse, but the desperate cries fell on deaf ears. They didn't want to hear it. They didn't care. One of them slammed a rag into my face. As I was pulled away, slowly slipping into unconsciousness, I saw the man who ruined my life. That stupid Persian of his and his Nidoking had returned to their Pokéballs, so it was me and him for that solitary moment. While his typically stony face expressed the most sadistic of smiles, mine looked nothing like the Gold that left New Bark. That Gold was dead, along with Exbo.

He'd done it. I'd promised them I'd never let him win, but here I was, a shell of the great trainer I had created for myself. I couldn't even manage to scowl at him. I was like a beaten dog, head down and lips pursed.

He said something, but his voice was too muffled to understand before I blacked out. I wouldn't wake up. Not when the life I would return to has no Exbo. I had no reason to continue this life. I wouldn't let myself.


End file.
